Checklist of Peak Experiences Challenging Humanity

Introduction

The challenge of peak
oil has been widely discussed and documented -- namely
as the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum
extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal
decline.

The following checklist offers some pointers to other "peaks"
by which humanity may be challenged. Of course these "peaks" do
not reflect independent phenomena but interact to exacerbate with
one another, reducing the time before any one of them is encountered.

Checklist

Peak oil: the point in time when the maximum rate of global
petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters
terminal decline.

Peak water: the point in time when the maximum
rate of use of freshwater is reached, after which the rate of access to such
water enters terminal decline relative population demand.

Peak food: the point in time when the maximum
rate of food production is reached, after which the rate of food production
enters terminal decline relative to population demand.

Peak human empathy: the point in time when
the capacity of human empathy for suffering distant others is reached,
after which the empathetic response enters terminal decline relative to the
demand of those in need.

Peak arable land: the point in time when the
ability to render available arable land is reached, after which the rate
of clearance enters terminal decline relative to population demand and food
production requirements..

Peak habitable land: the point in time when
the maximum rate of settlement creation is reached,
after which the rate of production of shelter enters terminal decline relative
to population demand.

Peak soil: the point in time when the
maximum rate of loss of top soil by erosion is reached, after which the
rate of loss enters terminal decline relative to demands made on the soil

Peak social safety nets: the point in time
when the maximum capacity of social safety nets is reached,
after which the rate of response to an aging population enters terminal decline.

Peak attention (to warnings): the point in
time when the maximum capacity to register new warnings regarding dangers
to society is reached, after which the ability to recognize and respond to
such information enters terminal decline. More generally it is the time when
collective attention, as required by collective intelligence, is saturated
by competing messages and is unable to sustain attention on any societal
project vital to survival. Such a condition may be a feature of individual
aging, or recognized as a challenge for disciplines of concentration and
meditation. For collectivities it may be associated with the shifting response
to fashion through which any degree of sustained concentration is abandoned.

Peak employment: the point in time when the
maximum rate of employment is reached, after which the capacity to generate
new employment enters terminal decline relative to demands for remunerative
work.

Peak pollution: the point in time when the
maximum rate of pollutant generation is reached, after which further generation
ensures terminal systemic decline.

Peak waste disposal: the point in time when
the maximum rate of waste generation is reached, after which any increase
in that rate ensures terminal systemic decline.

Peak viability of sustaining species: the
point in time when the maximum rate of loss of species sustaining vital environment
processes (production of oxygen, absorption of carbon dioxide, production
of foodstuffs) is reached, after which further loss ensures terminal systemic
decline.

Peak spare parts: the point in time when the
maximum rate of demand for replacement parts and equipment is reached, after
which systems dependent on that equipment enter terminal decline.

Peak sustaining expertise: the point in time
when the maximum rate of generation of sustaining expertise
for complex systems is reached, after which further demand ensures that those
systems enter terminal decline.

Peak health: the point in time when the maximum
rate of health care delivery is reached, after which
further demand ensures terminal decline in standards of health.

Peak education: the point in time when the
maximum rate of education delivery
is reached, after which the average level of education enters
terminal decline.

Peak culture: the point in time when the maximum
rate of culture delivery is reached, after which the average cultural level
of the population enters terminal decline.

Peak quality of life: the point in time when
the maximum rate of enhancement of quality of life is reached, after which
the average quality of life enters terminal decline relative to population
demand.

Peak transportation: the point in time when
the maximum transportation capacity has been reached,
after which transportation capacity enters terminal decline relative to
population demand.

Peak population: the point in time when the
maximum rate of global generation is reached, after which the rate
of population increase enters terminal decline.

Peak tolerance: the point
in time when the maximum capacity to tolerate the unwelcome behaviour
patterns of others is reached, after which the level of tolerance
enters terminal decline relative to that required to sustain adequate social
harmony

Peak emergency assistance: the point in time
when the maximum capacity of emergency services is reached, after which the
rate of intervention enters terminal decline relative to demand.

Peak technology: the point in time
when the maximum capacity of technological innovation (and ingenuity) is
reached in response to systemic complexity, after which the rate
of innovation enters terminal decline relative to needs to sustain
technical systems

Peak hope: the point in time when the
maximum dependence on future resolution of individual, collective and environmental
challenges is reached, after which the ability to depend on hope
enters terminal decline.

Peak irresponsibility: the point in time when
the maximum dependence on individual and collective irresponsibility
is reached, after which the ability to depend on irresponsibility enters
terminal decline.

Reframing engagement with "peaks" through metaphor

The term "peak" is associated with the focal experience of
two quite distinct communities, with some degree of relationship. It is therefore
interesting to explore the above challenges in the light of the metaphorical
framing offered by those communities:

Psychological
experience: In this case the term is used to describe certain
transpersonal and ecstatic states, particularly ones tinged with themes
of unification, harmonization and interconnectedness. Participants characterize
these experiences, and the revelations imparted therein, as possessing
an ineffably mystical (or overtly religious) quality or essence.

It might be asked whether the required response of humanity to the above
challenges is to be understood in transpersonal terms as characterized by
a form of existential or mystical experience.

Mountaineering:
Mountaineers are necessarily focused on their ability to conquer ever more
challenging peaks, and the experience they have of doing so. Typically
the peaks are difficult to access and known directly only to a few in practice
-- beyond the local communities who have long lived in their shadow and
may regard them in some way as sacred abodes of unseen spirits. Within
the mountaineering community, reputations are made in terms of the number
of the highest peaks that an individual has conquered -- or the new routes "opened" to
any one peak. On the other hand, some peaks (like Everest) have been reframed
as tourist experiences offered by guides (assisted by local "sherpas")
-- to the point that there is a major problem of waste left by mountaineers
on the routes to the top.

It would seem that there is a case for using such a perspective
to reframe understanding of the engagement by humanity with the challenges
listed above. Is there even a case for appreciating them (Celebrating
the Value of Deadly Problems Worldwide, 2008)? What does it mean to "conquer" them?
What training is required -- especially where there is a challernge of
extreme exposure to the elements, and lack of oxygen? Who are the local
communities living in their shadow and why do they view their peak with
such respect -- even to the point of regretting efforts to conquer it?
What is the nature of the challenge evoked in those prepared to respond
to such peaks -- and risk their lives in doing so? On the other hand is
there a problematic competitiveness to engaging with such peaks, as in
mountaineering?

If the world's problems are to be understood like a Himalayan chain of mountains
offering physical and psychological challenges, it is perhaps not inappropriate
to understand the Encyclopedia
of World Problems and Human Potential as
an atlas of the opportunities. It documents thousands of such "peaks" --
of various grades of difficulty -- as well as the known strategic routes
by which they may be approached. It also profiles understandings of the altered
states of awareness that may be associated with such engagement.